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1960: Sinatra on politics
From the Army Archerd Archive



1960: Sinatra on politics

By ARMY ARCHERD, Thurs., Oct. 30, 2008, 11:43am PT


Frank Sinatra, JFK
Frank Sinatra campaigned for John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Nov. 10, 1960

GOOD MORNING: Ask a foolish question and -- Queried on the rumor he cleaned up $200,000 in election bets, Frank Sinatra straight-faced, "I don't bet on elections"...His director on "The Devil at 4 O'Clock," Mervyn LeRoy (R., Calif.), commented yesterday a.m., "I've lost an election, but I've gained a mighty happy actor"...Rosalind Wyman called Sinatra on the set to express thanks for his campaigning...The Thin Singer watched the voting at the Tony Curtis-Janet Leigh home, along with the Bill Goetzes, Billy Wilders, Milton Berles, Dick Shepherds, etc. But Curtis was in Chi (he voted by absentee ballot for Kennedy) to receive his Star of the Year award from Allied States...His home was a "clearinghouse" for showbiz calls coming in around the country; the Hank Fondas in N.Y., Sammy Cahns in Las Vegas, Peter Lawfords in Hyannis Port...Sammy Davis Jr. stopped his Huntington Hartford show Tuesday p.m. to give "the latest" election reports and electoral count -- he also kidded pal Dean Martin, the only member of the clan, oops, we mean group, who didn't join the open campaigning for Kennedy...2008 Update: "Roz" Wyman well recalls the Kennedy victory night -- and Sinatra winning a bet with director Mervyn LeRoy. "And I've got the picture to prove it," she laughs. The picture shows Sinatra riding atop a donkey with LeRoy leading them about the MGM lot where they were shooting "The Devil at 4 O'Clock" with Spencer Tracy and Jean-Pierre Aumont...Wyman, who continues today as a Democratic National Committeeperson, had been co-chair of the 1960 Demos' Convention as well as co-chair of the California Kennedy-Johnson campaign that defeated the Nixon-Cabot Lodge GOP ticket. She recalls Sinatra campaigned "wherever they needed him -- as did others like Ella Fitzgerald, Milton Berle -- and in those days you weren't limited to the amount of money you could contribute. They raised millions." Wyman also recalls a subsequent chapter and the end of the Kennedy-Sinatra association after Bobby Kennedy's investigation of some of Sinatra's "friends" (?). When the president later vacationed in Palm Springs he chose to stay at Bing Crosby's compound rather than at Sinatra's. And Bing was a Republican. That's no show biz.


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